Consolidated help desk gives Kansas full view of IT activities

Kansas’ executive branch agencies are looking to modernize quickly, and a big part of that is knowing how the technology agency is serving its customers, says Lee Allen, the state’s chief information technology officer.

A key part of that effort is through the consolidation of the state’s help desk, Allen tells StateScoop in a video interview. The Kansas State Office of Information Technology Services brought all of its information technology support capabilities online last year, giving Allen’s team its “first real ability to see the work that IT is doing across the enterprise.”

The full view of help desk functions allows Allen and his team to see what incidents are being reported and what IT service requests are being filed all in one place.

“We’ve never had the ability to collect that into one place before,” Allen says. “So now we’re finally able to measure it and show our business partners the work we’re doing.”

Going forward, Allen says he and his team will create service-license agreements with partner agencies so that they can hold the IT agency accountable for the work its doing.

The help desk consolidation project comes as Kansas looks to continue “getting out of the ownership of hardware and facilities around our IT infrastructure environment,” Allen says. The state entered into an agreement with Unisys for data co-location, hosted private cloud and mainframe public cloud services.

In addition, Allen says the state is modernizing the services it offers to citizens, including through its work with PayIt, to offer the “first mobile driver’s license renewal system in the country.”

Allen on 2018 accomplishments:

Allen on identity and access management:

Allen on modernization:

Allen on the future of technology:

These videos were produced by StateScoop at the National Association of State Chief Information Officers’ annual conference in San Diego, California, in October 2018.